A method, apparatus and computer program product for management of mobile entities

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to apparatuses, methods and computer program products for management of non-stationary mobile edge communication hosts. In accordance of an embodiment, the apparatus comprises means for wirelessly communicating with a non-stationary mobile edge computing element capable of providing mobile edge application services to wireless communication equipment; means for querying whether the non-stationary mobile edge computing element is available for mobile edge computing; and means for maintaining information of the availability of the non-stationary mobile edge computing element for mobile edge computing; and maintaining information on mobile edge application instances the available non-stationary mobile edge computing element is providing.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an apparatus, a method and a computerprogram for mobile edge computing.

BACKGROUND

This section is intended to provide a background or context to theinvention that is recited in the claims. The description herein mayinclude concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily onesthat have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unlessotherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is notprior art to the description and claims in this application and is notadmitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

Mobile edge computing (MEC, a.k.a. Multi-Access Edge Computing) refersto a concept in which cloud computing operations and/or possibly othersoftware related operations, which have been performed by a server in anetwork, are implemented within a radio access network (RAN), forexample at an interface between a mobile communication network and amobile communication device utilizing such operations. Mobile edgecomputing may allow that content, services and applications could beperformed faster and responsiveness from the edge could be increased,wherein a latency may also become smaller. Inter alia the EuropeanTelecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) is developing standards formobile edge communication.

According to the current ETSI MEC (“Multi-Access Edge Computing”), theMEC host is seen to be stationary and can accordingly be connected via ahighly reliable (e.g. fixed line) connection. However, in current orfuture deployments an MEC host may indeed not always be stationary, butmobile itself (e.g. in trains or busses). Then, the MEC host may not beconnected via a reliable link. This again means that connection tospecific entities like e.g. the MEC “mobile edge platform manager” maybecome unreliable. Current standards do not refer to such a situationwhere management commands and telemetry information can no longer beassumed to reach their destination unconditionally. A second problemarises from the fact that non-stationary hosts (NSH) may move from afirst area of a first “mobile edge platform manager” (MEPM) to a secondarea served by a second (different) mobile edge platform manager.

There is a difference between managing a standard ETSI MEC host andplatform that is in a fixed location connected via, e.g., a reliablefiber link, and an edge host and platform that run on a non-stationaryinfrastructure. In such a situation, the interface between the ETSI MECmobile edge platform manager (Mm5) as well as the interface between ETSIMEC virtualization infrastructure manager and the virtualizationinfrastructure (Mm7 or Nf-Vi and Mv3 in case of a ETSI MEC in NFVdeployment) may become unreliable, i.e., they use wireless rather thanfixed networks. This means that management commands and telemetryinformation can no longer be assumed to reach their destinationunconditionally. Currently, there is no mechanism in the standard tohandle this uncertainty.

Some potential use cases for mobile edge computing are large vehicleswith a need for hosting edge cloud functionality, such as busses,trains, airplanes, or ships. Even for smaller vehicles for individualtraffic (i.e., cars) such functionality can be useful.

Furthermore, moving edge hosts may move out of a “mobility zone” of amobile edge platform manager instance. This means that a mechanism maybe needed to perform a handover between two distinct mobile edgeplatform managers.

SUMMARY

Now there has been invented an improved method and technical equipmentimplementing the method. In accordance with an embodiment, new entitiesor functions handling these issues are added. One entity monitors theavailability of non-stationary hosts and, in case a non-stationary hostcannot be reached, replies to requests in place of the non-stationaryhost. Another entity organizes a “handover” of a non-stationary hostfrom a first mobile edge platform manager (MEPM) to a second mobile edgeplatform manager. As an example, these two elements may be called as aNon-Stationary Host Management Function and a Non-Stationary HostOrchestration Function in this specification. The Non-Stationary HostManagement Function aims to mitigate effects of the wireless link thatthe management interface uses (intra-mobility zone movement). Thewireless link is usually less than 100% reliable. The Non-StationaryHost Orchestration Function facilitates the movement of MEC hostsbetween mobility zones (inter-mobility zone movement).

Some aspects are related to the enablement of the MEC framework tomanage non-stationary hosts by, for example, introducing a mechanismwhich provides information about the availability of MEC applications onnon-stationary hosts including a mapping between application instancesand non-stationary hosts; a mechanism for mitigation the effect ofunreliable communication links on MEC interfaces using caching anddelayed forwarding; and a mechanism for transitioning management ofnon-stationary hosts between MEC platform managers.

One target scenario is an edge cloud deployment in which one or moreedge hosts are non-stationary, i.e., are located on vehicles within oneedge cloud coverage zone managed by a single entity. Such zone isreferred as a “mobility zone” in this specification.

Various aspects of examples of the invention are provided in thedetailed description.

According to a first aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprisingmeans for:

-   -   wirelessly communicating with a non-stationary mobile edge        computing element capable of providing mobile edge application        services to wireless communication equipment;    -   querying whether the non-stationary mobile edge computing        element is available for mobile edge computing;    -   maintaining information of the availability of the        non-stationary mobile edge computing element for mobile edge        computing; and maintaining information on mobile edge        application instances the available non-stationary mobile edge        computing element is providing.

A method according to a second aspect comprises:

-   -   wirelessly communicating with a non-stationary mobile edge        computing element capable of providing mobile edge application        services to wireless communication equipment;    -   querying whether the non-stationary mobile edge computing        element is available for mobile edge computing;    -   maintaining information of the availability of the        non-stationary mobile edge computing element for mobile edge        computing; and maintaining information on mobile edge        application instances the available non-stationary mobile edge        computing element is providing.

An apparatus according to a third aspect comprises at least oneprocessor and at least one memory, said at least one memory stored withcode thereon, which when executed by said at least one processor, causesthe apparatus to perform at least:

-   -   wirelessly communicate with a non-stationary mobile edge        computing element capable of providing mobile edge application        services to wireless communication equipment;    -   query whether the non-stationary mobile edge computing element        is available for mobile edge computing;    -   maintain information of the availability of the non-stationary        mobile edge computing element for mobile edge computing; and        maintaining information on mobile edge application instances the        available non-stationary mobile edge computing element is        providing.

A computer readable storage medium according to a fourth aspectcomprises code for use by an apparatus, which when executed by aprocessor, causes the apparatus to perform:

-   -   wirelessly communicate with a non-stationary mobile edge        computing element capable of providing mobile edge application        services to wireless communication equipment;    -   query whether the non-stationary mobile edge computing element        is available for mobile edge computing;    -   maintain information of the availability of the non-stationary        mobile edge computing element for mobile edge computing; and        maintaining information on mobile edge application instances the        available non-stationary mobile edge computing element is        providing.

An apparatus according to a fifth aspect comprises:

-   -   a communication element configured to wirelessly communicate        with a non-stationary mobile edge computing element capable of        providing mobile edge application services to wireless        communication equipment;    -   a message composer configured to form a query whether the        non-stationary mobile edge computing element is available for        mobile edge computing;    -   a memory configured to maintain information of the availability        of the non-stationary mobile edge computing element for mobile        edge computing; and maintaining information on mobile edge        application instances the available non-stationary mobile edge        computing element is providing.

According to a sixth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprisingmeans for:

-   -   maintaining information of at least one mobile edge computing        management apparatus;    -   maintaining information of mobile edge computing instances        provided by the at least one mobile edge computing management        apparatus; and    -   maintaining information of one or more cells of a wireless        communication system which the mobile edge computing management        apparatus uses for providing the mobile edge computing instances        to wireless communication equipment.

A method according to a seventh aspect comprises:

-   -   maintaining information of at least one mobile edge computing        management apparatus;    -   maintaining information of mobile edge computing instances        provided by the at least one mobile edge computing management        apparatus; and    -   maintaining information of one or more cells of a wireless        communication system which the mobile edge computing management        apparatus uses for providing the mobile edge computing instances        to wireless communication equipment.

An apparatus according to an eight aspect comprises at least oneprocessor and at least one memory, said at least one memory stored withcode thereon, which when executed by said at least one processor, causesthe apparatus to perform at least:

-   -   maintain information of at least one mobile edge computing        management apparatus;    -   maintain information of mobile edge computing instances provided        by the at least one mobile edge computing management apparatus;        and    -   maintain information of one or more cells of a wireless        communication system which the mobile edge computing management        apparatus uses for providing the mobile edge computing instances        to wireless communication equipment.

A computer readable storage medium according to a ninth aspect comprisescode for use by an apparatus, which when executed by a processor, causesthe apparatus to perform:

-   -   maintain information of at least one mobile edge computing        management apparatus;    -   maintain information of mobile edge computing instances provided        by the at least one mobile edge computing management apparatus;        and    -   maintain information of one or more cells of a wireless        communication system which the mobile edge computing management        apparatus uses for providing the mobile edge computing instances        to wireless communication equipment.

An apparatus according to a tenth aspect comprises:

-   -   a first database element configured to maintain information of        at least one mobile edge computing management apparatus;    -   a second database element configured to maintain information of        mobile edge computing instances provided by the at least one        mobile edge computing management apparatus; and    -   a first database element maintain information of one or more        cells of a wireless communication system which the mobile edge        computing management apparatus uses for providing the mobile        edge computing instances to wireless communication equipment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of example embodiments of the presentinvention, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a system for capturing, encoding, decoding, reconstructingand viewing a three-dimensional scheme;

FIGS. 2a and 2b depict simplified signalling diagrams related tointra-mobility zone movement, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 2c depicts a simplified signalling diagram related to a situationin which a non-stationary host management function operates as a messageproxy towards a platform/host/infrastructure, in accordance with anembodiment;

FIG. 3 depicts a simplified signalling diagram related to inter-mobilityzone movement, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 4a illustrates an example of a situation in which a non-stationaryhost moves to a serving area of another cell, which belongs to themanagement of the same mobile edge platform manager than a previous one;

FIG. 4b illustrates an example of a situation in which a non-stationaryhost moves to a serving area of another cell, which belongs to themanagement of a different mobile edge platform manager than a previousone;

FIG. 5a shows an example method as a flow diagram, in accordance with anembodiment;

FIG. 5b shows an example method as a flow diagram, in accordance withanother embodiment;

FIG. 6 shows a part of an exemplifying radio access network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following embodiments are exemplary. Although the specification mayrefer to “an”, “one”, or “some” embodiment(s) in several locations, thisdoes not necessarily mean that each such reference is to the sameembodiment(s), or that the feature only applies to a single embodiment.Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provideother embodiments.

In the following, some example embodiments are described which considersituations where one or more mobile edge hosts are able to move, i.e.are non-stationary. In accordance with an embodiment, two elements areprovided for addressing challenges brought by the non-stationarity. Anexample is illustrated in FIG. 1 which depicts a mobile edge computingarchitecture in a network functions virtualization environment, based onthe ETSI MEC in NFV architecture.

The mobile edge system 100 comprises mobile edge hosts 101 and mobileedge management 102 so that mobile edge applications can be run withinan operator network or a subset of an operator network. The mobile edgehost 101 is an entity that contains a mobile edge platform 102 and avirtualisation infrastructure 103 which provides computing, storage, andnetwork resources, for the purpose of running mobile edge applications.The mobile edge platform 102 is a collection of functionalities whichare used when mobile edge applications are run on a particularvirtualisation infrastructure 103. These functionalities also enable themobile edge applications to provide and consume mobile edge services.The mobile edge platform 102 can also provide services. Thevirtualisation infrastructure includes a data plane 104 that executesthe traffic rules received by the mobile edge platform, and routes thetraffic among applications, services, DNS server/proxy, 3GPP network,local networks and external networks.

Mobile edge applications can be instantiated on the virtualisationinfrastructure 103 of the mobile edge host 101 based on configuration orrequests validated by the mobile edge management. The mobile edgemanagement comprises the mobile edge system level management and themobile edge host level management.

The mobile edge system level management includes a mobile edgeapplication orchestrator 105 as its core component, which has anoverview of the complete mobile edge system. The mobile edge applicationorchestrator 105 may also be called as a mobile edge applicationorchestration element in this specification,

The mobile edge host level management comprises a mobile edge platformmanager 106 and a virtualisation infrastructure manager 107 (VIM), andhandles the management of the mobile edge specific functionality of aparticular mobile edge host 101 and the applications running on it.

The mobile edge platform 102 has, inter alia, the following functions.It offers an environment where the mobile edge applications candiscover, advertise, consume and offer mobile edge services, including,when supported, mobile edge services available via other platforms. Ialso receives traffic rules from the mobile edge platform manager 106,applications, or services, and instructs the data plane accordingly.When supported, this includes the translation of tokens representing UEsin the traffic rules into specific IP addresses. The mobile edgeplatform 102 also receives DNS records from the mobile edge platformmanager 106 and configures a DNS proxy/server accordingly. The mobileedge platform 102 may also host mobile edge services and provide accessto persistent storage and time of day information.

Mobile edge applications can be run as virtual machines (VM) on top ofthe virtualisation infrastructure provided by the mobile edge host 101,and can interact with the mobile edge platform 102 to consume andprovide mobile edge services. In certain cases, mobile edge applicationsmay also interact with the mobile edge platform to perform certainsupport procedures related to the lifecycle of the application, such asindicating availability, preparing relocation of user state, etc.

Mobile edge applications can have a certain number of rules andrequirements associated to them, such as required resources, maximumlatency, required or useful services, etc. These requirements arevalidated by the mobile edge system level management, and can beassigned to default values if missing.

The mobile edge application orchestrator 106 (MEAO) is the corefunctionality in mobile edge system level management and is responsibleinter alia for the following functions. The mobile edge applicationorchestrator 106 maintains an overall view of the mobile edge systembased on deployed mobile edge hosts, available resources, availablemobile edge services, and topology; takes case of on-boarding ofapplication packages, including checking the integrity and authenticityof the packages, validating application rules and requirements and ifnecessary adjusting them to comply with operator policies, keeping arecord of on-boarded packages, and preparing the virtualisationinfrastructure manager(s) to handle the applications. The mobile edgeapplication orchestrator 106 may further select appropriate mobile edgehost(s) for application instantiation based on constraints, such aslatency, available resources, and available services, as well astriggering application instantiation, termination, and/or relocation.

The Operations Support System (OSS) 108 in FIG. 1 refers to theoperations support system of an operator. It receives requests via theCFS portal and from applications which are running in a user equipment(a.k.a. UE applications or user applications) for instantiation ortermination of applications, and decides on the granting of theserequests. Granted requests are forwarded to the mobile edge applicationorchestrator 105 for further processing.

When supported, the operations support system 108 also receives requestsfrom UE applications for relocating applications between external cloudsand the mobile edge system.

A user application is a mobile edge application that is instantiated inthe mobile edge system in response to a request of a user via anapplication running in the user equipment such as a mobile communicationdevice, a tablet computer, a laptop computer etc.

The mobile edge platform manager 106 manages the life cycle ofapplications including informing the mobile edge applicationorchestrator 105 of relevant application related events; provideselement management functions to the mobile edge platform; and managesthe application rules and requirements including service authorizations,traffic rules, DNS configuration and resolving conflicts.

The mobile edge platform manager 106 may also receive virtualisedresources fault reports and performance measurements from thevirtualisation infrastructure manager for further processing.

The virtualisation infrastructure manager 107 allocates, manages andreleases virtualised (compute, storage and networking) resources of thevirtualisation infrastructure, and prepares the virtualisationinfrastructure to run a software image. The preparation may compriseconfiguring the infrastructure, and can also comprise receiving andstoring the software image. The virtualisation infrastructure manager107 may also collect and report performance and fault information aboutthe virtualised resources; and may perform application relocation. Forapplication relocation from/to external cloud environments, thevirtualisation infrastructure manager interacts with the external cloudmanager to perform the application relocation, possibly through a proxy.

A network functions virtualization orchestrator (NFVO) 109 has theability to coordinate, authorize, release, and engage network functionsvirtualization infrastructure (NFVI) resources independently of anyspecific virtualization infrastructure manager 107. It also providesgovernance of virtualized network function (VNF) instances sharingresources of the network functions virtualization infrastructure.Resource orchestration is used, for example, to ensure there areadequate compute, storage, and network resources available to provide anetwork service. To meet that objective, the network functionsvirtualization orchestrator 109 can work either with the virtualisationinfrastructure manager 107 or directly with network functionsvirtualization infrastructure resources, depending on the requirements.

User equipment applications as meant in the present specification areapplications in the UE that have the capability to interact with themobile edge system via a user application lifecycle management proxy.

FIG. 1 also depicts some so-called reference points between differententities of the architecture. In the following, the reference points areshortly described.

Reference points Mp1, MP2 and Mp3 relate to the mobile edge platform102. The Mp1 reference point between the mobile edge platform and themobile edge applications provides service registration, servicediscovery, and communication support for services. It also providesother functionality such as application availability, session staterelocation support procedures, traffic rules and DNS rules activation,access to persistent storage and time of day information, etc. Thisreference point can be used for consuming and providing service specificfunctionality.

The Mp2 reference point between the mobile edge platform and the dataplane of the virtualisation infrastructure is used to instruct the dataplane on how to route traffic among applications, networks, services,etc.

The Mp3 reference point between mobile edge platforms is used forcontrol communication between mobile edge platforms.

Reference points Mm1 to Mm10 relate to the mobile edge management.

The Mm1 reference point between the mobile edge application orchestrator105 and the operations support system 108 is used for triggering theinstantiation and the termination of mobile edge applications in themobile edge system.

The Mm2 reference point between the operations support system 108 andthe mobile edge platform manager is used for the mobile edge platformconfiguration, fault and performance management.

The Mm3 reference point between the mobile edge application orchestrator105 and the mobile edge platform manager is used for the management ofthe application lifecycle, application rules and requirements andkeeping track of available mobile edge services.

The Mm4 reference point between the mobile edge application orchestrator105 and the virtualisation infrastructure manager is used to managevirtualised resources of the mobile edge host, including keeping trackof available resource capacity, and to manage application images.

The Mm5 reference point between the mobile edge platform manager and themobile edge platform is used to perform platform configuration,configuration of the application rules and requirements, applicationlifecycle support procedures, management of application relocation, etc.

The Mm6 reference point between the mobile edge platform manager and thevirtualisation infrastructure manager is used to manage virtualisedresources e.g. to realize the application lifecycle management.

The Mm7 reference point between the virtualisation infrastructuremanager and the virtualisation infrastructure is used to manage thevirtualisation infrastructure.

The Mm8 reference point between the user application lifecyclemanagement proxy and the operations support system 108 is used to handleUE applications requests for running applications in the mobile edgesystem.

The Mm9 reference point between the user application lifecyclemanagement proxy and the mobile edge application orchestrator 105 of themobile edge system is used to manage mobile edge applications requestedby UE application.

The Mm10 reference point between multiple mobile edge platform managersis used to facilitate transition of non-stationary hosts betweendifferent mobile edge platform managers.

In the following, reference points Mx1, Mx2 related to external entitieswill be shortly described.

The Mx1 reference point between the operations support system 108 andthe customer facing service portal is used by the third-parties torequest the mobile edge system to run applications in the mobile edgesystem. This reference point is not further specified.

The Mx2 reference point between the user application lifecyclemanagement proxy and the UE application is used by a UE application torequest the mobile edge system to run an application in the mobile edgesystem, or to move an application in or out of the mobile edge system.This reference point is only accessible within the mobile network. Itmay only be available when supported by the mobile edge system.

A mobile edge service is a service provided and consumed either by themobile edge platform or a mobile edge application. When provided by anapplication, it can be registered in a list of services to the mobileedge platform over the Mp1 reference point. A mobile edge applicationcan subscribe to a service for which it is authorized over the Mp1reference point. A certain number of mobile edge services may benecessary in order to fulfil the requirements defined in ETSI GS MEC002.

A Radio Network Information service, when available, provides authorizedapplications with radio network related information. It exposesinformation to applications, such as appropriate up-to-date radionetwork information regarding radio network conditions; measurement andstatistics information related to the user plane; information (e.g. UEcontext and radio access bearers) related to UEs served by the radionode(s) associated with the mobile edge host; and changes on informationrelated to UEs served by the radio node(s) associated with the mobileedge host. The radio network information is provided at the relevantgranularity (e.g. per User Equipment (UE) or per cell, per period oftime).

The reference points Mv1, Mv2 and Mv3 are introduced to support themanagement of ME applications running as virtualised network functions.

The reference point Mv1 connects the mobile edge applicationorchestrator 106 and a network functions virtualization orchestrator109. It is related to the Os-Ma-nfvo reference point.

The reference point Mv2 connects the virtualized network functionmanager (VNFM) 110 that performs the life cycle management (LCM) of theME app virtualized network functions with the MEPM-V to allow life cyclemanagement related notifications to be exchanged between these entities.It is related to the Ve-Vnfm-em reference point, but will possiblyinclude additions, and might not use all functionality offered byVe-Vnfm-em.

The reference point Mv3 connects the virtualized network functionsmanager 110 with the ME app virtualized network function instance, toallow the exchange of messages e.g. related to ME application life cyclemanagement or initial deployment-specific configuration. It is relatedto the Ve-Vnfm-vnf reference point, but will possibly include additions,and might not use all functionality offered by Ve-Vnfm-vnf.

The reference point Nf-Vn connects each ME app virtualized networkfunction with the network functions virtualization infrastructure.

The reference point Nf-Vi connects the network functions virtualizationinfrastructure and the virtualisation infrastructure manager 107.

The reference point Os-Ma-nfvo connects the operations support system108 and the network functions virtualization orchestrator 109. It isprimarily used to manage NSs, i.e. a number of virtualized networkfunctions connected and orchestrated to deliver a service.

The reference point Or-Vnfm connects the network functionsvirtualization orchestrator 109 and the virtualized network functionmanager 110. It is primarily used for the network functionsvirtualization orchestrator 109 to invoke virtualized network functionlife cycle management operations.

The reference point Vi-Vnfm connects the virtualisation infrastructuremanager 107 and the virtualized network function manager 110. It isprimarily used by the virtualized network function manager 110 to invokeresource management operations to manage the cloud resources that areneeded by the virtualized network function. It is assumed in a NFV-basedMEC deployment that this reference point corresponds to Mm6.

The reference point Or-Vi connects the network functions virtualizationorchestrator 109 and the virtualisation infrastructure manager 107. Itis primarily used by the network functions virtualization orchestrator109 to manage cloud resources capacity.

In order to run a mobile edge application in the mobile edge system, themobile edge application orchestrator 105 receives requests triggered bythe operations support system 108, a third-party, or a UE application.

These requests provide information about the application to run, andpossibly other information, such as the location where the applicationneeds to be active, other application rules and requirements, as well asthe location of the application image if it is not yet on-boarded in themobile edge system.

The information considered by the mobile edge application orchestrator105 when selecting a mobile edge host(s) for a mobile edge applicationcan include:

-   -   deployment model of the application (e.g. whether it is one        instance per user, one instance per host, one instance on each        host, etc.);    -   required virtualised resources (compute, storage, network        resources, including specific hardware support);    -   latency requirements (e.g. how strict the latency constraints        are, latency fairness between users);    -   requirements on location;    -   required mobile edge services that are needed for the mobile        edge application to be able to run;    -   mobile edge services that the mobile edge application can take        advantage of if available;    -   connectivity or mobility requirements (e.g. application state        relocation, application instance relocation);    -   required mobile edge features, such as VM relocation support or        UE identity;    -   required network connectivity (e.g. connectivity to applications        within the mobile edge system, connectivity to local networks,        or to the Internet);    -   information on the operator's mobile edge system deployment or        mobile network deployment (e.g. topology, cost);    -   requirements on access to user traffic;    -   requirements on persistent storage.

The mobile edge application orchestrator 105 considers the requirementsand information listed above and information on the resources currentlyavailable in the mobile edge system to select one or several mobile edgehosts within the mobile edge system, and requests the selected host(s)to instantiate the application.

Under certain circumstances (e.g. UE mobility events resulting inincreased latency, load balancing decisions), and if supported, themobile edge application orchestrator 105 could decide to select a newhost and initiate the transfer of an application instance orapplication-related state information from a source host (S-MEPM) to atarget host (T-MEPM).

The mobile edge platform provides access to a domain name system (DNS),which includes a name server and a proxy/cache function. The mobile edgeplatform receives the application DNS rules from the mobile edgemanagement. Based on configuration or following an activation requestfrom the mobile edge application, the mobile edge platform configuresthe mapping between an IP address and its FQDN into the DNS based onthese rules.

In the following, the operation of a method related to the management ofthe non-stationary host 102 in some example situations will be describedin more detail with reference to the signalling diagrams of FIGS. 2a, 2band 2 c.

FIG. 2a depicts a simplified signalling diagram regarding intra-mobilityzone movement, in accordance with an embodiment.

A “Non-Stationary Host Management Function (NSH-MF)” 111, which may alsobe called as a non-stationary host management element in thisspecification, is introduced to mitigate the effects of the unreliable(wireless) interfaces on non-stationary hosts 101 (NSH). Thenon-stationary host management function 111 can be part of the mobileedge platform manager 106 (MEPM(-V)) but could also be stand-alone. Thenon-stationary host management function 111 provides the mapping of aspecific application instance represented through its ApplicationInstance Identifier to the Mobile Edge Platform Instance it isassociated with. In accordance with an embodiment, a non-stationary host101 shall only host one Mobile Edge Instance.

The functionality of the non-stationary host management function 111 isresponsible, inter alia, for the following tasks:

The non-stationary host management function 111 provides informationabout the non-stationary host 101, the MEC platform it hosts, as well asthe host applications to other management and orchestration functions inthe MEC framework. The non-stationary host management function 111answers requests regarding the availability of the non-stationary host101 on which a specific application instance is hosted after havingresolved the Application Instance Identifier to the corresponding MEPInstance and Non-Stationary Host.

In the signalling diagram of FIG. 2a the mobile edge applicationorchestrator 105 queries whether a current application instance isavailable. The mobile edge application orchestrator 105 sends a requestmessage 201 via the Mm3 interface to the non-stationary host managementfunction 111. The request message 201 comprises information of theapplication instance to which the query relates. The information may be,for example, an application instance identifier. If the currentapplication instance is available, the non-stationary host managementfunction 111 replies to the request by sending 202 via the Mm3 interfacea positive acknowledgement (yes) to the mobile edge applicationorchestrator 105. If the current application instance is not available,the non-stationary host management function 111 replies to the requestby sending 202 via the Mm3 interface a negative acknowledgement (no) tothe mobile edge application orchestrator 105.

In the signalling diagram of FIG. 2b the mobile edge applicationorchestrator 105 queries from the non-stationary host managementfunction 111 when a next application instance might be available. Themobile edge application orchestrator 105 sends a request message 203 viathe Mm3 interface to the non-stationary host management function 111.The request message 203 comprises information of the applicationinstance to which the query relates. The information may be, forexample, an application instance identifier. The non-stationary hostmanagement function 111 replies to the query by sending indication 204of a time interval to the next predicted application instanceavailability via the Mm3 interface.

The non-stationary host management function 111 may also serve as amessage proxy towards the platform/host/infrastructure. If the addressedmoving entity is available/responsive, it simply forwards the message.If the addressed moving entity is unavailable, depending on theconfiguration the non-stationary host management function 111 eitherresponds with a negative acknowledgement or it acknowledges the messageand caches it until the addressed moving entity becomes available again.

FIG. 2c depicts a simplified signalling diagram regarding messagedelivery between a requesting entity 205 and a non-stationary host 101,in accordance with an embodiment. The requesting entity 205 sends arequest 206 towards an application/platform on the non-stationary host101. The request is received by the non-stationary host managementfunction 112 which manages the requested non-stationary host 101. In theexample of FIG. 2c there are two alternatives how the process mayproceed. In the first alternative 207, the requested non-stationary host101 is available, wherein the non-stationary host management function112 forwards 208 the request to the non-stationary host 101. In theother alternative 209 the requested non-stationary host 101 is notavailable, wherein the non-stationary host management function 112caches 210 the request until the non-stationary host 101 is available.Hence, when the non-stationary host 101 is available, the non-stationaryhost management function 112 forwards 211 the cached request to thenon-stationary host 101.

FIG. 5a illustrates some details of the operation of the non-stationaryhost management function 111 as a simplified flow diagram, in accordancewith an embodiment. The non-stationary host management function 111wirelessly communicates with a non-stationary host 101 (block 502 inFIG. 5a ). The non-stationary host management function 111 queries (504)from the non-stationary host 101 whether the non-stationary host 101 isavailable for mobile edge computing. The non-stationary host managementfunction 111 maintains (506) information of the availability of thenon-stationary host 101 and also maintains (508) information on mobileedge application instances the available non-stationary host 101 isproviding.

A “Non-Stationary Host Orchestration Function (NSH-OF)” 112 isintroduced to handle the transition of non-stationary hosts 101 betweenmobility zones. The non-stationary host orchestration function 112 canbe realized as an internal function of mobile edge (application)orchestrator (ME(A)O) but also as a stand-alone function.

The functionality of the non-stationary host orchestration function 112includes but is not limited to the proactive preparation of MEC/NFVcomponents and connectivity in the target mobility zone the movingentity is entering as well as the tear down of the same in the mobilityzone the moving entity is leaving once the handover is complete.

The non-stationary host orchestration function 112 may leverage movementprediction as well as rely on dual connectivity to facilitate a smoothmobility zone transition.

The mobile edge platform 102 on the non-stationary host 101 comprises anInstance Identifier so that the non-stationary host orchestrationfunction 112 can use it to reference a specific mobile edge platforminstance as a mobile edge platform manager 106 may manage several mobileedge platforms 102. Furthermore, an interface between multiple mobileedge platform managers 106 may be needed to facilitate the transition ofnon-stationary hosts 101 between mobile edge platform managers 106. Thisinterface is named as Mm10 in this specification.

The process could alternatively be directed via the mobile edgeapplication orchestrator 105.

FIG. 3 depicts a simplified signalling diagram regarding inter-mobilityzone movement, in accordance with an embodiment. When a non-stationaryhost 101 detects that it is making a handover from a previous cell to anew cell of a wireless communication network, the non-stationary hosts101 obtains information about the identity of the new cell (CellID) andsends a message 301 to the mobile edge platform manager 106 which iscurrently serving the non-stationary host 101. The message comprisesinformation about the handover into the new cell, including informationof the identity CellID of the new cell. The mobile edge platform manager106 sends a request 302 to the non-stationary host orchestrationfunction 112 to verify the responsible mobile edge platform manager 106.

How the process proceeds depends on whether the new cell belongs to theresponsibility of the current mobile edge platform manager 106 or not.If the responsibility of the new cell belongs to the current mobile edgeplatform manager 106 (alternative 303 in FIG. 3), the non-stationaryhost orchestration function 112 replies by sending a responsibilityconfirmation message 304 to the current mobile edge platform manager106. An example of this kind of situation is illustrated in FIG. 4 a.

A vehicle 401 carrying the non-stationary host 101 (NSH) moves to a newlocation (illustrated with the arrow 402 and the dashed rectangle 401′).The non-stationary host 101 is communicating with the wirelesscommunication network 403 via a first access point 404 a, e.g. a basestation of the wireless communication network. This base station canalso be called as a serving base station. During the movement theserving base station may change, wherein the non-stationary host 101 maytry to find out whether also the mobile edge platform manager 106 haschanged due to the new serving base station 404 b.

If the responsibility of the new cell does not belong to the currentmobile edge platform manager 106 (alternative 305 in FIG. 3), thenon-stationary host orchestration function 112 selects 306 a new mobileedge platform manager 106 a which is responsible of the new cell. Then,the non-stationary host orchestration function 112 sends a notification307 of responsibility change to the current mobile edge platform manager106. The notification 307 comprises indication of the selected mobileedge platform manager 106 a. The non-stationary host orchestrationfunction 112 also sends to the selected mobile edge platform manager 106a a request 308 to manage the non-stationary host. The request 308 maybe sent via the Mm3 interface. When the selected mobile edge platformmanager 106 a has processed the request 308 it sends a request 309 tothe current mobile edge platform manager 106 to take control for thenon-stationary host 101 from the current mobile edge platform manager106. The current mobile edge platform manager 106 replies 310 by sendingan acknowledgement 310 of management transition to the selected mobileedge platform manager 106 a. Both the request 309 and theacknowledgement 310 may be sent via the interface Mm10. Then, theselected mobile edge platform manager 106 a assumes that it has themanagement over the non-stationary host 101 and the current mobile edgeplatform manager 106 ceases to manage the non-stationary host 101.Additionally, the non-stationary host orchestration function 112 takesmeasures to ensure connectivity to the non-stationary host 101 nowassociated to the mobile edge platform manager (T-MEPM) by instructingcorresponding network management or control entities. This isillustrated with block 311 in FIG. 3. The selected mobile edge platformmanager 106 a may also send a notification 312 of successfulnon-stationary host management transition to the non-stationary hostorchestration function 112 via the interface Mm3. Finally, in case thatthe mobile edge computing platform is managed by a network functionsvirtualization infrastructure (cf. FIG. 1), the mobile edge platform aswell as the mobile edge applications on the non-stationary host 101 mayneed to re-associate with the corresponding virtualized network functionmanagers 110.

An example of the latter situation is illustrated in FIG. 4b . A vehicle401 carrying the non-stationary host 101 (NSH) moves to a new location(illustrated with the arrow 402 and the dashed rectangle 401′). Thenon-stationary host 101 is communicating with the wireless communicationnetwork 403 a via a first access point 404 a, e.g. a base station of thewireless communication network 403 a. During the movement the servingbase station may change, wherein the non-stationary host 101 may try tofind out whether also the mobile edge platform manager 106 a has changeddue to the new serving base station 404 d. In this example, also themobile edge platform manager 106 has changed so that the new basestation 404 d belongs to a second mobile edge platform manager 106 b.

The non-stationary host 101 may be installed in connection with avehicle such as a train, a bus, a tram, an airplane or it may also be acar, for example. On board user equipment UE may utilize mobile edgeservices via the non-stationary host to run applications, performcalculations at least partly in or via the mobile edge platform manager106,

FIG. 5b illustrates some details of the operation of the non-stationaryhost orchestration function 112 as a simplified flow diagram, inaccordance with an embodiment. The non-stationary host orchestrationfunction 112 maintains (522) information of at least one mobile edgecomputing management apparatus. The non-stationary host orchestrationfunction 112 also maintains (524) information of mobile edge computinginstances provided by the at least one mobile edge computing managementapparatus; and maintains (526) information of one or more cells of awireless communication system which the mobile edge computing managementapparatus uses for providing the mobile edge computing instances towireless communication equipment.

In the following, an access architecture to which some embodiments maybe applied will be described using as an example a radio accessarchitecture based on long term evolution advanced (LTE Advanced, LTE-A)or new radio (NR, 5G), without restricting the embodiments to such anarchitecture, however. It is obvious for a person skilled in the artthat the embodiments may also be applied to other kinds ofcommunications networks having suitable means by adjusting parametersand procedures appropriately. Some examples of other options forsuitable systems are the universal mobile telecommunications system(UMTS) radio access network (UTRAN or E-UTRAN), long term evolution(LTE, the same as E-UTRA), wireless local area network (WLAN or WiFi),worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), Bluetooth®,personal communications services (PCS), ZigBee®, wideband code divisionmultiple access (WCDMA), systems using ultra-wideband (UWB) technology,sensor networks, mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) and Internet protocolmultimedia subsystems (IMS) or any combination thereof.

FIG. 6 depicts examples of simplified system architectures only showingsome elements and functional entities, all being logical units, whoseimplementation may differ from what is shown. The connections shown inFIG. 6 are logical connections; the actual physical connections may bedifferent. It is apparent to a person skilled in the art that the systemtypically comprises also other functions and structures than those shownin FIG. 6.

The embodiments are not, however, restricted to the system given as anexample but a person skilled in the art may apply the solution to othercommunication systems provided with necessary properties.

The example of FIG. 6 shows a part of an exemplifying radio accessnetwork.

FIG. 6 shows user devices 600 and 602 configured to be in a wirelessconnection on one or more communication channels in a cell with anaccess node (such as (e/g)NodeB) 604 providing the cell. The physicallink from a user device to a (e/g)NodeB is called uplink or reverse linkand the physical link from the (e/g)NodeB to the user device is calleddownlink or forward link. It should be appreciated that (e/g)NodeBs ortheir functionalities may be implemented by using any node, host, serveror access point etc. entity suitable for such a usage.

A communications system typically comprises more than one (e/g)NodeB inwhich case the (e/g)NodeBs may also be configured to communicate withone another over links, wired or wireless, designed for the purpose.These links may be used for signalling purposes. The (e/g)NodeB is acomputing device configured to control the radio resources ofcommunication system it is coupled to. The NodeB may also be referred toas a base station, an access point or any other type of interfacingdevice including a relay station capable of operating in a wirelessenvironment. The (e/g)NodeB includes or is coupled to transceivers. Fromthe transceivers of the (e/g)NodeB, a connection is provided to anantenna unit that establishes bi-directional radio links to userdevices. The antenna unit may comprise a plurality of antennas orantenna elements. The (e/g)NodeB is further connected to core network610 (CN or next generation core NGC). Depending on the system, thecounterpart on the CN side can be a serving gateway (S-GW, routing andforwarding user data packets), packet data network gateway (P-GW), forproviding connectivity of user devices (UEs) to external packet datanetworks, or mobile management entity (MME), etc.

The user device (also called UE, user equipment, user terminal, terminaldevice, etc.) illustrates one type of an apparatus to which resources onthe air interface are allocated and assigned, and thus any featuredescribed herein with a user device may be implemented with acorresponding apparatus, such as a relay node. An example of such arelay node is a layer 3 relay (self-backhauling relay) towards the basestation.

The user device typically refers to a portable computing device thatincludes wireless mobile communication devices operating with or withouta subscriber identification module (SIM), including, but not limited to,the following types of devices: a mobile station (mobile phone),smartphone, personal digital assistant (PDA), handset, device using awireless modem (alarm or measurement device, etc.), laptop and/or touchscreen computer, tablet, game console, notebook, and multimedia device.It should be appreciated that a user device may also be a nearlyexclusive uplink only device, of which an example is a camera or videocamera loading images or video clips to a network. A user device mayalso be a device having capability to operate in Internet of Things(IoT) network which is a scenario in which objects are provided with theability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-humanor human-to-computer interaction. The user device may also utilisecloud. In some applications, a user device may comprise a small portabledevice with radio parts (such as a watch, earphones or eyeglasses) andthe computation is carried out in the cloud. The user device (or in someembodiments a layer 3 relay node) is configured to perform one or moreof user equipment functionalities. The user device may also be called asubscriber unit, mobile station, remote terminal, access terminal, userterminal or user equipment (UE) just to mention but a few names orapparatuses.

Various techniques described herein may also be applied to acyber-physical system (CPS) (a system of collaborating computationalelements controlling physical entities). CPS may enable theimplementation and exploitation of massive amounts of interconnected ICTdevices (sensors, actuators, processors microcontrollers, etc.) embeddedin physical objects at different locations. Mobile cyber physicalsystems, in which the physical system in question has inherent mobility,are a subcategory of cyber-physical systems. Examples of mobile physicalsystems include mobile robotics and electronics transported by humans oranimals.

Additionally, although the apparatuses have been depicted as singleentities, different units, processors and/or memory units (not all shownin FIG. 6) may be implemented.

5G enables using multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antennas, manymore base stations or nodes than the LTE (a so-called small cellconcept), including macro sites operating in co-operation with smallerstations and employing a variety of radio technologies depending onservice needs, use cases and/or spectrum available. 5G mobilecommunications supports a wide range of use cases and relatedapplications including video streaming, augmented reality, differentways of data sharing and various forms of machine type applications(such as (massive) machine-type communications (mMTC), includingvehicular safety, different sensors and real-time control. 5G isexpected to have multiple radio interfaces, namely below 6 GHz, cmWaveand mmWave, and also being integradable with existing legacy radioaccess technologies, such as the LTE. Integration with the LTE may beimplemented, at least in the early phase, as a system, where macrocoverage is provided by the LTE and 5G radio interface access comes fromsmall cells by aggregation to the LTE. In other words, 5G is planned tosupport both inter-RAT operability (such as LTE-5G) and inter-RIoperability (inter-radio interface operability, such as below 6GHz-cmWave, below 6 GHz-cmWave-mmWave). One of the concepts consideredto be used in 5G networks is network slicing in which multipleindependent and dedicated virtual sub-networks (network instances) maybe created within the same infrastructure to run services that havedifferent requirements on latency, reliability, throughput and mobility.

The current architecture in LTE networks is fully distributed in theradio and fully centralized in the core network. The low latencyapplications and services in 5G require to bring the content close tothe radio which leads to local break out and multi-access edge computing(MEC). 5G enables analytics and knowledge generation to occur at thesource of the data. This approach requires leveraging resources that maynot be continuously connected to a network such as laptops, smartphones,tablets and sensors. MEC provides a distributed computing environmentfor application and service hosting. It also has the ability to storeand process content in close proximity to cellular subscribers forfaster response time. Edge computing covers a wide range of technologiessuch as wireless sensor networks, mobile data acquisition, mobilesignature analysis, cooperative distributed peer-to-peer ad hocnetworking and processing also classifiable as local cloud/fog computingand grid/mesh computing, dew computing, mobile edge computing, cloudlet,distributed data storage and retrieval, autonomic self-healing networks,remote cloud services, augmented and virtual reality, data caching,Internet of Things (massive connectivity and/or latency critical),critical communications (autonomous vehicles, traffic safety, real-timeanalytics, time-critical control, healthcare applications).

The communication system is also able to communicate with othernetworks, such as a public switched telephone network or the Internet612, or utilise services provided by them. The communication network mayalso be able to support the usage of cloud services, for example atleast part of core network operations may be carried out as a cloudservice (this is depicted in FIG. 6 by “cloud” 614). The communicationsystem may also comprise a central control entity, or a like, providingfacilities for networks of different operators to cooperate for examplein spectrum sharing.

Edge cloud may be brought into radio access network (RAN) by utilizingnetwork function virtualization (NVF) and software defined networking(SDN). Using edge cloud may mean access node operations to be carriedout, at least partly, in a server, host or node operationally coupled toa remote radio head or base station comprising radio parts. It is alsopossible that node operations will be distributed among a plurality ofservers, nodes or hosts. Application of cloudRAN architecture enablesRAN real time functions being carried out at the RAN side (in adistributed unit, DU 604) and non-real time functions being carried outin a centralized manner (in a centralized unit, CU 608).

It should also be understood that the distribution of labour betweencore network operations and base station operations may differ from thatof the LTE or even be non-existent. Some other technology advancementsprobably to be used are Big Data and all-IP, which may change the waynetworks are being constructed and managed. 5G (or new radio, NR)networks are being designed to support multiple hierarchies, where MECservers can be placed between the core and the base station or nodeB(gNB). It should be appreciated that MEC can be applied in 4G networksas well.

5G may also utilize satellite communication to enhance or complement thecoverage of 5G service, for example by providing backhauling. Possibleuse cases are providing service continuity for machine-to-machine (M2M)or Internet of Things (loT) devices or for passengers on board ofvehicles, or ensuring service availability for critical communications,and future railway/maritime/aeronautical communications. Satellitecommunication may utilise geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellitesystems, but also low earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems, in particularmega-constellations (systems in which hundreds of (nano)satellites aredeployed). Each satellite 606 in the mega-constellation may coverseveral satellite-enabled network entities that create on-ground cells.The on-ground cells may be created through an on-ground relay node 604or by a gNB located on-ground or in a satellite.

It is obvious for a person skilled in the art that the depicted systemis only an example of a part of a radio access system and in practice,the system may comprise a plurality of (e/g)NodeBs, the user device mayhave an access to a plurality of radio cells and the system may comprisealso other apparatuses, such as physical layer relay nodes or othernetwork elements, etc. At least one of the (e/g)NodeBs may be aHome(e/g)nodeB. Additionally, in a geographical area of a radiocommunication system a plurality of different kinds of radio cells aswell as a plurality of radio cells may be provided. Radio cells may bemacro cells (or umbrella cells) which are large cells, usually having adiameter of up to tens of kilometers, or smaller cells such as micro-,femto- or picocells. The (e/g)NodeBs of FIG. 6 may provide any kind ofthese cells. A cellular radio system may be implemented as a multilayernetwork including several kinds of cells. Typically, in multilayernetworks, one access node provides one kind of a cell or cells, and thusa plurality of (e/g)NodeBs are required to provide such a networkstructure.

For fulfilling the need for improving the deployment and performance ofcommunication systems, the concept of “plug-and-play” (e/g)NodeBs hasbeen introduced. Typically, a network which is able to use“plug-and-play” (e/g)Node Bs, includes, in addition to Home (e/g)NodeBs(H(e/g)nodeBs), a home node B gateway, or HNB-GW (not shown in FIG. 6).A HNB Gateway (HNB-GW), which is typically installed within anoperator's network may aggregate traffic from a large number of HNBsback to a core network.

In general, the various embodiments of the invention may be implementedin hardware or special purpose circuits or any combination thereof.While various aspects of the invention may be illustrated and describedas block diagrams or using some other pictorial representation, it iswell understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques ormethods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limitingexamples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits orlogic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computingdevices, or some combination thereof.

Embodiments of the inventions may be practiced in various componentssuch as integrated circuit modules, field-programmable gate arrays(FPGA), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC),microcontrollers, microprocessors, a combination of such modules. Thedesign of integrated circuits is by and large a highly automatedprocess. Complex and powerful software tools are available forconverting a logic level design into a semiconductor circuit designready to be etched and formed on a semiconductor substrate.

Programs, such as those provided by Synopsys, Inc. of Mountain View,Calif. and Cadence Design, of San Jose, Calif. automatically routeconductors and locate components on a semiconductor chip using wellestablished rules of design as well as libraries of pre stored designmodules. Once the design for a semiconductor circuit has been completed,the resultant design, in a standardized electronic format (e.g., Opus,GDSII, or the like) may be transmitted to a semiconductor fabricationfacility or “fab” for fabrication.

The foregoing description has provided by way of exemplary andnon-limiting examples a full and informative description of theexemplary embodiment of this invention. However, various modificationsand adaptations may become apparent to those skilled in the relevantarts in view of the foregoing description, when read in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings and the appended claims. However, all such andsimilar modifications of the teachings of this invention will still fallwithin the scope of this invention.

1. An apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and at least onememory comprising computer program code, the at least one memory andcomputer program code configured, with the at least one processor, tocause the apparatus at least to: communicate wirelessly with anon-stationary mobile edge computing element capable of providing mobileedge application services to wireless communication equipment; querywhether the non-stationary mobile edge computing element is availablefor mobile edge computing; maintain information of the availability ofthe non-stationary mobile edge computing element for mobile edgecomputing; and maintain information on mobile edge application instancesthe available non-stationary mobile edge computing element is providing.2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memoryand computer program code are further configured, with the at least oneprocessor, to cause the apparatus at least to: receive a query whetheran application instance is available; examine the status of theapplication instance; and send a reply to the query indicative ofwhether the application instance is available.
 3. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and computerprogram code are further configured, with the at least one processor, tocause the apparatus at least to: receive a query requesting when anapplication instance becomes available; examine the status of theapplication instance; and send a reply to the query comprising anindication of a next predicted application instance availability.
 4. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory andcomputer program code are further configured, with the at least oneprocessor, to cause the apparatus at least to: receive a message proxyaddressed to a non-stationary computing element; examine whether thenon-stationary computing element is available; and forward the messageproxy to the non-stationary computing element, if the examinationindicates that the non-stationary computing element is available.
 5. Theapparatus according to claim 4, wherein the at least one memory andcomputer program code are further configured, with the at least oneprocessor, to cause the apparatus at least to perform, if theexamination indicates that the non-stationary computing element is notavailable, at least one of the following: cache the message proxy, andforward the cached message proxy to the non-stationary computingelement, when the non-stationary computing element becomes available;reply with a negative acknowledgment.
 6. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code arefurther configured, with the at least one processor, to cause theapparatus at least to: obtain information about an identity of a cell ofa wireless communication network currently serving the non-stationarymobile edge computing element; compare the identity of the currentlyserving cell with an identity of a cell which was previously serving thenon-stationary mobile edge computing element; and communicate with anon-stationary host orchestration element to determine whether theapparatus is to release control for the non-stationary computing elementto another mobile edge computing management apparatus.
 7. (canceled) 8.A method comprising: wirelessly communicating with a non-stationarymobile edge computing element capable of providing mobile edgeapplication services to wireless communication equipment; queryingwhether the non-stationary mobile edge computing element is availablefor mobile edge computing; maintaining information of the availabilityof the non-stationary mobile edge computing element for mobile edgecomputing; and maintaining information on mobile edge applicationinstances the available non-stationary mobile edge computing element isproviding.
 9. The method according to claim 8 further comprising:receiving query whether an application instance is available; examiningthe status of the application instance; and sending a reply to the queryindicative of whether the application instance is available.
 10. Themethod according to claim 8, further comprising: receiving a queryrequesting when an application instance becomes available; examining thestatus of the application instance; and sending a reply to the querycomprising an indication of a next predicted application instanceavailability.
 11. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:receiving a message proxy addressed to a non-stationary computingelement; examining whether the non-stationary computing element isavailable; and forwarding the message proxy to the non-stationarycomputing element, if the examination indicates that the non-stationarycomputing element is available.
 12. The method according to claim 11further comprising: caching the message proxy, and forward the cachedmessage proxy to the non-stationary computing element, when thenon-stationary computing element becomes available; and replying with anegative acknowledgment.
 13. The method according to claim 8 furthercomprising: obtaining information about an identity of a cell of awireless communication network currently serving the non-stationarymobile edge computing element; comparing the identity of the currentlyserving cell with an identity of a cell which was previously serving thenon-stationary mobile edge computing element; and communicating with anon-stationary host orchestration element to determine whether theapparatus is to release control for the non-stationary computing elementto another apparatus.
 14. (canceled)
 15. An apparatus, comprising: atleast one processor; and at least on memory comprising computer programcode, the at least one memory and computer program code configured, withthe at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to: maintaininformation of at least one mobile edge computing management apparatus;maintain information of mobile edge computing instances provided by theat least one mobile edge computing management apparatus; maintaininformation of one or more cells of a wireless communication systemwhich the mobile edge computing management apparatus uses for providingthe mobile edge computing instances to wireless communication equipment;receive from a non-stationary computing element an indication of a cellof a wireless communication network; examine the indication to determinewhich mobile edge computing management apparatus uses the indicated cellfor providing the mobile edge computing instances to wirelesscommunication equipment; and perform a handover operation, if theexamination indicates that the determined mobile edge computingmanagement apparatus is different from a mobile edge computingmanagement apparatus previously used for providing the mobile edgecomputing instance to the wireless communication equipment. 16.(canceled)
 17. (canceled)
 18. The apparatus according to claim 15,wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are furtherconfigured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus atleast to: obtain information of a mobile edge computing managementapparatus whether the apparatus is configured to provide mobile edgecomputing services via the indicated cell; and if the informationindicates that the apparatus is not configured to provide mobile edgecomputing services via the indicated cell, perform a responsibilitychange operation with another apparatus.
 19. The apparatus according toclaim 18, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code arefurther configured, with the at least one processor, to cause theapparatus at least to: receive from a non-stationary host orchestrationfunction an indication of a selected mobile edge platform manager;receive from the selected mobile edge platform manager a request to takecontrol for the non-stationary computing element from the apparatus; andsend an acknowledgement of management transition to the selected mobileedge platform manager.
 20. A method, comprising: maintaining informationof at least one mobile edge computing management apparatus; maintaininginformation of mobile edge computing instances provided by the at leastone mobile edge computing management apparatus; maintaining informationof one or more cells of a wireless communication system which the mobileedge computing management apparatus uses for providing the mobile edgecomputing instances to wireless communication equipment; receiving froma non-stationary computing element an indication of a cell of a wirelesscommunication network; examining the indication to determine whichmobile edge computing management apparatus uses the indicated cell forproviding the mobile edge computing instances to wireless communicationequipment; and performing a handover operation, if the examinationindicates that the determined mobile edge computing management apparatusis different from a mobile edge computing management apparatuspreviously used for providing the mobile edge computing instance to thewireless communication equipment.
 21. (canceled)
 22. (canceled)
 23. Themethod according to claim 20, further comprising: obtaining informationof a mobile edge computing management apparatus whether the apparatus isconfigured to provide mobile edge computing services via the indicatedcell; and if the information indicates that the apparatus is notconfigured to provide mobile edge computing services via the indicatedcell, performing a responsibility change operation with anotherapparatus.
 24. The method according to claim 23, further comprising:receiving from a non-stationary host orchestration function anindication of a selected mobile edge platform manager; receiving fromthe selected mobile edge platform manager a request to take control forthe non-stationary computing element from the apparatus; and sending anacknowledgement of management transition to the selected mobile edgeplatform manager.